A day in the light... the point of light...

Panguitch Valley evening "good" light.                          2013

 There is the "good" light and the there is the every day all day light. Working the front desk at a visitor center in the middle of one, if not, the most stunning landscapes in southern Utah outside of a national park, one question...
"where is the best place to get good photos??"
Well sir how much time do you have...
I have spent almost ten years making photo, light drawings, graphs in this country and a day trip for photos is hardly enough time. One might get a whole bunch of "snapshots" which is what most of us take/make. A couple of days might get you something... good, maybe.

Panguitch Valley mid morning clear light.                      2013

The thing i have come to observe over time is that the light is ever changing not only from day to day but from each moment to the next during that day... and of course this also varies from season to season. I think i can honestly say i have never seen the light the same twice...
I am not even sure i am a "photographer" but just a snapshot taker. i don't set around in a landscape waiting for the "right moment". This idea of living and working in the landscape each and every day for years is the advantage, watching the landscape change throughout the day, and always having the camera at hand. I have become an observer of everyday life, and weather conditions, the more extreme the better.

Panguitch Valley afternoon partly cloudy light.                                      2013

 Don't leave home without the camera... i work the idea of lots of images/snapshots and then sorting it all out at the end of the day. So many of the images/photos we see of the stunning places on earth you will never see them in person that way because "i just a few hours here to see it". So coming back to the question above... plan on a day or two to explore and find the place/places you like best, then go back and set up and wait, and hope the weather does not change in the mean time, but that's another op...

A lot of what image making comes down too for me is being there and if that moment in time looks "good" then i have to take/make the time to capture that moment, don't say as i have more times then i can remember... "i will stop and catch it on the way back or later". That moment is gone. 

Working the visitor center in a stunning spot, i have hundreds of images of the same place/view at different moments in time... some good and lots of not so good... ya just have got to spend time in the "place" and take/make a lot of images. Most of this is the right place at the right time, and that's a bit of what life is all about... so see it as it is while you are there. All the photo is for, is so you can remember the place and what is was like while/when you were there... or proof that you did it. Just remember a photo is like looking through a toilet paper tube... you don't capture what you really "saw" when you were there. "these photos just don't look or do the place justice". A camera is a "microscope" view of a landscape.

The above images are where i live, this is my everyday views, my work place is a ten mile commute just east of here in a place called Red Canyon on the Dixie National Forest. I will be back there in March when we open for the season. Come back here and visit for more images or stop in if your in the Southern Utah neighborhood... i do know a few places to go...  Cheers.